Nowhere to Go; Ageing and Isolation in the Asian-American Community

By Duncan Hardock

The atmosphere inside the Chinese Culture and Community Service Center (CCACC) is festive. To the right, a fitness class chants as they move to beat of the music. In a classroom down the hall, rows of elderly Chinese Americans practice the ancient art of calligraphy. Eighty-year-olds are playing table tennis in the middle of the hallway, bantering as the little white ball whips back and forth. The vast majority of these seniors are suffering from some kind of ailment, but in a way, they are the lucky ones. The CCACC’s Adult Day Healthcare Center, located in Gaithersburg, Maryland, is open to everyone, but many families can’t afford the services without the assistance of Medicaid, and Medicaid won’t cover the expense unless the senior’s health condition has degraded to a certain level.

These are the circumstances that face countless Asian American families in the Washington DC area. There is a tradition in Asian cultures: take care of your parents. A simple enough commandment, but it’s often easier commanded than done.

The CCACC Healthcare Center is a formal and licensed health organization. There are trained medical personnel on staff. Transportation is provided to specialists. Translation services are offered to decipher the complications of medical jargon. Meals are provided. Entertainment. A community. Ned Li, the current program director, helped found the CCACC over 30 years ago. The point, Li said, was to“use this kind of Culture Center as a focus point and get people together in the community. To combine our forces.”

The challenges that face Asian American elders mirror those that plague senior communities across the country: limited income, lack of access to affordable housing, deteriorating health, and a shrinking network of support. But Asian American seniors face additional and intrinsic of a community that is comprised of so many immigrants. 74% of Asian-American adults were born abroad, according to the Pew Center’s 2012 report on The Rise of Asian-Americans.

Andrew Chang, Community Outreach Specialist at the DC Mayor’s Office on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs wrote in an email,“These seniors and elders left their established lives in their native countries to move to America to start their lives anew for the future prosperity of their children. Many of these elders, due to language and cultural barriers and/or a lack of United States education, cannot find a job in this country or are only qualified for low paying jobs before they eventually reach the age of retirement.”

Historically, children and grandchildren in Asian families are tasked with taking care of elder generations. But these traditions are being challenged by the modern American context, which pressures children to move out of their households and become independent adults. “Due to the fast pace of American life and pressures of work, it is harder for Asian American families to maintain the Asian tradition of providing elder care and preserving multi-generational households. Increasingly, Asian American children are living far away from their parents, and Asian American elders are living by themselves,” Chang said.

Unfortunately, there are not enough organizations like the CCACC to meet the demands of the growing Asian American population in the DC area. According to the Office of Asian American and Pacific Islander Affairs, “Very few places offer services for [Asian American] elders that are linguistically and culturally competent and friendly to them. There is a community service center in the District of Columbia for Chinese elders living around Chinatown, but there is no program for Chinese elders living outside of that neighborhood, nor are there centers to accommodate non-Chinese Asian American elders.”

On May 10th, the Mayor’s Office hosted the second annual Senior Symposium as part of the Mayor’s Age-Friendly City Initiative. Over 300 senior citizens, alongside a contingent of caregivers, healthcare providers, and stakeholders, filled the ballroom of the historic Omni Shoreham Hotel. Out of 300 seniors only ten Asian American seniors from DC Chinatown attended. More striking was the fact that out of the ten Chinese American elders, only one spoke English with the confidence to sit down for an interview.

Jiu Xin Zhou, a Shanghai native, moved to Washington DC 24 years ago. His children live in California. Although he is retired and lives alone, he is quick to shrug off the distance. “It’s easy to stay in touch with a phone and the computer. Skype is easy and free.” For Zhou, aging has meant taking the good with the bad. “You have lots of free time after you retire, but it’s very important to have money. If you don’t have money you can’t go places, can’t see people, you just stay at home all day. The Government needs to take care of its seniors. It’s hard to walk on the street; it’s hard to drive. A lot of seniors want to use the Internet, but the Internet is very hard. The high speed can be very expensive, and if the price is too high, he won’t want to use it. But then he loses a lot of things. He loses friends and things to do.”

But, as the CCACC demonstrates, the community as a whole can help develop and provide essential services for the comfort and care of its elders, which were once provided by the tradition of multigenerational households.

The community that the CCACC seeks to create resembles the one many Asian-American seniors would have left behind when they came to America. They can enjoy the comforts of a familiar language and familiar pastimes. The reality, according to Mr. Li, is that“many seniors are lonely. For many families, the situation is that the parent is not fluent. They can’t drive. They are there to help out with the grandchildren.”

Asian Fortune is an English language newspaper for Asian American professionals in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Visit fb.com/asianfortune to stay up to date with our news and what’s going on in the Asian American community.